Burns Leave Scars: The Answers to Our Questions
by Wrote Too Soon
Summary: It's time for Zena to journey back to Hogwarts, and she's determined to find out who her father is. Even if it takes asking the murderous Sirius Black himself. Sequel to Burns Leave Scars: A Happy Christmas Indeed
1. Prologue

To walk the hallowed halls of Hogwarts was a great honor. The school was filled with a rich history of training some of the bravest and most famous wizards that have ever lived. The magnificent castle has housed many students, of all shapes, sizes, personalities, and sexual orientation.

The large corridors had seen many fights, make ups, and relationship blossoms. And what the East corridor was seeing now was a fight amongst good friends. It was a boy and a girl who had been friends since first year. They were now in their sixth. They both had long dark hair, his was shoulder length and tied back in a short, unruly ponytail; hers was so silky smooth that it glistened in the dark, it's long, sleek, wavy strands flowing down to her mid-back. Their names? Sirius Black and Valentine LeSauvage

"Why do you hang out with him so much anyway?" Sirius asked.

"Because he's my friend, Sirius," Valentine snapped back as if it were obvious.

"So, you're my friend too and we haven't hung out half as much as you two have been recently."

"He's an old friend Sirius, one I haven't spoken to in a while until now, is it so wrong I want to catch up with him?"

"It is when he's only hanging out with you to get to Lily!" Sirius snapped loudly.

"What did you say?" Valentine exclaimed angrily.

"You heard me, he's using you!" He snapped.

"How dare you!" She exclaimed scolding, "And besides," She continued defensively, "I can take care of myself."

"Doubt it," Sirius scoffed.

"You know the solution then, don't you?" She exclaimed trying not to choke on her building tears.

"Go on, what is it?" He snapped.

"Pluck up the courage to ask me to hang out with you before he does, and if you don't want to do that than we just won't be friends anymore!" She yelled choking on her tears.

"Fine then," He exclaimed, "I guess we're not friends anymore!" Sirius stormed off towards the Gryffindor common room after that.

Valentine pulled out her wand after a brief moment of staring after him in shock. "Flipendo!" She whispered pointer her wand at him. The rebellious boy flew into the wall with a thud. He rolled over and stared at her in astonishment. Seeing the tears stream down her face made his heart lurch.

"Valentine, please," He whispered, "I di–"

"Save it, Sirius," She snapped. "I don't want to hear it." She rubbed the back of her hand along her nose before running off to the Ravenclaw common room trying to keep her sobs quiet.

That was the last time Sirius Black talked to Valentine LeSauvage before she died.


	2. 01

She felt the Knight Bus come to an abrupt halt on a road next to a deserted playground. She didn't look up from her copy of _A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry _by Maggie Asgarth though, she didn't really care about who got on and off the bus, she was just there to get to the Leaky Cauldron. Elizabeth had to take care of business in Russia and wouldn't be back in any reasonable amount of time so she was going to stay in the Leaky Cauldron until term started.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard," Zena heard the conductor begin. "Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor for this eve–" Stan stopped speaking, and for that brief moment Zena looked up. She looked out the window to see a boy nearly flat on their backside on the sidewalk.

"What were you doin' down there?" Stan asked.

"Fell over," the boy outside replied, the voice sounding familiar to Zena.

"'Choo fell over for?" Zena rolled her eyes at the nineteen year old's poor grammar and stupidity.

"I didn't do it on purpose," the boy snapped.

There was an exchange between Stan and the boy outside before they began to get on the bus. "Did you say this bus can go anywhere?" the boy asked as he stepped up into the magical mode of transportation. Zena was surprised to see Harry Potter standing there. She looked down to her book allowing her dark hair to fall to hide her face.

Harry took a seat on one of the beds. Stan then knocked on the window behind the driver and simply stated, "Take it away Ern,"

"Yeah, take it away, Ern!" the talking shrunken head hanging from the rearview mirror exclaimed excitedly, "It's going to be a bumpy ride!" The driver pulled a lever back and the bus transported itself back to where it was before Harry had hailed it and they took off at a psychotic speed.

"What did you say your name was again?" Stan asked after a few seconds.

"I didn't," Harry replied.

"Well, whereabouts are you headed?" Stan picked up a receipt pad.

"The Leaky Cauldron," Harry remarked, "That's in London."

"Oi," Stan laughed, "You 'ear that, Burns? The Leaky Cauldron, that's in London." Zena felt Harry's gaze turn to stare at her.

"Zena?" He remarked in astonishment.

She looked up from her book, "Hello Harry," She remarked.

"Hey, hey, if either of you get the pea soup, make sure you eat it before it eats you." The talking shrunken head cackled. Zena rolled her eyes.

"How long have you been on this bus?"

"'Ow long," Stan chuckled, "Better question is 'ow many times."

Zena sighed. She didn't make a habit of riding the Knight Bus, but it was one of the easiest forms of magical transportation and it was quick so she took it whenever she really needed to get somewhere at night. "I haven't been on here too many times," She remarked irritably glaring slightly at their conductor, "I just take it whenever I'm going to or leaving Nash's house," She continued to explain, "His Floo hasn't been cleaned in a while and it makes whoever uses it smell like old man body odor and booze."

"Ah," Harry remarked slightly disturbed by the thought of smelling like that before turning back around. Zena went back to reading her book.

There was a moment when the bus had to come to an abrupt halt for an old woman with a walker. Harry got up to look out the window at the surroundings to see what would be done about it before they took off again and he fell back onto the bed he had been sitting on.

"Who is that?" Harry asked a few moments later, "That man." Zena looked up to see Stan looking at the front page of the Daily Prophet where a picture of Sirius Black was.

"'Oo is that?" Stan remarked in astonishment, "'Oo is that? That is Sirius Black, that is." Harry looked at him confused. "Don't tell me you've never been 'earing of Sirius Black?" Harry looked back at Zena to see if she knew who Sirius Black was. Zena stared at Harry in astonishment. She stood and walked over to sit on the bed Harry was using.

"How do you not know who Sirius Black is?" Zena asked him in surprised that _'The Boy Who Lived'_ didn't know who the man was.

"Well, I know him from the muggle news, but–"

"Muggle news," She muttered, "They don't know anything about his true nature. The man was border line psychotic when they put him away in Azkaban. There's no telling what he's like now that he's been there for eleven years."

"She's right," Stan remarked, "'Ee's a murderer."

"How'd he escape Azkaban, then, if the paper says it's inescapable?" Harry asked the two.

"That the question, innit?" Stan asked dramatically, "'Ee's the first one that done it." Stan looked out the window after that. "Oi, Burns, mind taken that story from there? We're about to be at your stop."

Harry turned to look at Zena, "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who, Harry. When you defeated You-Know-Who, his followers were tracked down and arrested, most of them went quietly, knowing that with him gone it was pretty much over. Black, on the other hand, wasn't too happy about it. Rumors have it that he thought he'd be second in command once He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named took over." Zena paused as the bus started to slow.

"Go on," Harry ushered her.

"The ministry was able to track him down though, and corner him in the middle of a street full of muggles. Black pulled his wand and blew up the whole street. He killed a ministry official and twelve muggles, and _then_ went quietly after that." Harry stared at her in disbelief, "Some eye witnesses claim they saw him laugh as they arrested him."

"The authorities did a real good clean up job, they did." Stan commented, "The 'ole street blown up, all 'dem muggles dead, what'd they say it was 'Ern?"

"Gas explosion," the silent driver spoke.

"Now 'ee's out," Stan remarked, "Don't 'ave much chances against those Azkaban guards, he does. Ain't that right, Ern?"

The old man shivered, "Talk about something else, Stan, those Azkaban guards give me the collywobbles."

The bus came to a stop soon after that. "'Ere we are, The Leaky Cauldron." The talking shrunken head told them.

Stan helped the two Hogwarts student with their luggage as they got off. "Later, Burns." Stan remarked with a tip of his hat before the bus took off at top speed.

A hunched back man came waddling out soon after the bus disappeared. "How often did you go visit Nash?" Harry asked Zena.

"Twice," She replied before heading towards the entrance, "I do believe that man is waiting for you." She gestured towards the bald, hunch back man in all black that was waiting near the entrance. Harry turned to follow her gesture, when he saw what she was talking about. He turned back to say goodbye only to see she had already walked off towards the pub bar table.

* * *

Zena woke to a knock at her door. She rubbed her eyes before walking over to the door. She opened it and saw Harry standing there sheepishly. "Yes?" Zena asked. She had explained the oddity of Harry talking to her on the Knight Bus as him finding slight comfort of seeing a familiar face to help with his extreme discomfort due to the bus' psychotic driving patterns. So the fact that he was at her room's door confused her.

"I- I came to apologize," he muttered, Zena raised an eyebrow, "Really apologize, for how badly my friends and I treated you last year. I know this isn't an excuse, but the Chamber of Secrets ordeal sort of made every Slytherin an enemy and a subject as to who was the heir was."

Zena looked at him for a long time, studying him, trying to see if there was any sign in his body language that told her he was lying. She sighed, "I accept your apology, Harry."

"Thank you," he remarked with a smile at her before walking off.

Zena watched him walk away until he was out of the hallway just to make sure he didn't want anything else before she shut the door.


	3. 02

Why anybody would choose to live towards the end of one of the longest streets in London was beyond Severus. Yet, he had been assigned a task by Dumbledore and he planned to see it through. So, despite the strange looks he was getting from all the muggles traveling along Cromwell Road, he continued to walk down it.

Coming to a stop in front of the second to last house on the left hand side of the street he studied the muggle home. He soon felt the sudden feeling of déjà vu. By looking at the very plain house he felt the same feeling he got when he had been near Lily Evans', married name being Potter's, sister, Petunia.

He walked up the stairs that led to the door and knocked. After the sounds of locks being undone the door opened to reveal a tall slender woman that Severus could just tell was judging him almost immediately as she saw him. "Sir, we do not give handouts of any kind." She stated sharply about to shut the door.

"I assure you, ma'am," Severus remarked disdainfully, "I am not here for your money. I have been informed that you have a daughter by the name of Eliza Lauren, and I am here as a representation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Her face morphed into a sneer, "I understand that my daughter is odd, but this joke has go–" Severus cut her off as he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Sir, you are at my house and interrupting my–"

"Mrs. Fortsby I'm sure your bridge game can wait." Severus snapped and her eyebrows rose. "I am here on behalf of a place that your daughter will not be different, where she won't be bullied for being able to do things that other children can't; a place where she won't have to put up with her siblings harsh teasing every day."

"I don't know how you know all of that, but I demand you leave now or I'll call the police."

"No, you won't." he dead panned. "You won't call the police, because you want to believe that what I say is true. Yet, at the same time you don't want to admit to yourself that your youngest child is different, because you know your husband doesn't like the fact that she makes your family look abnormal. So, Mrs. Fortsby–" Severus' rant was cut off by a small girl with shoulder length blonde hair coming up behind the woman.

"Mummy, what's going on?"

"Nothing dear," Mrs. Fortsby remarked trying to shoo her daughter away from the scene that was being made.

The girl squeezed her way onto the front step to stand in front of Severus. "Are you here to talk about the letter I got; the one that came out of the Dursley's toaster?"

Severus sighed exasperatedly, "Yes."

"So this school for magic is real?"

"Yes,"

"And I've been accepted?"

"That's what the letter entails, yes." Severus told her, irritated by her inquiry of the obvious.

"I didn't get to read it," she sighed, "The twins snatched it from my hands before I could, and then when they handed it to father he ripped it to shreds."

Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out a copy of her letter and handed it to her. She took it, reading the addressing before looking up at him ecstatically.

"Oh, thank you sir!" She exclaimed happily, hugging Severus around the legs.

"Ms. Fortsby I would like to inform you that I will be one of your instructors at Hogwarts, and I do not tolerate such behavior."

"You'd be one of her teachers?" Mrs. Fortsby asked astonished, and a little skeptical.

"What do you teach?" Eliza asked.

"Potions," he told her, "Now if you'd excuse me, I have other things to tend to. All the necessary details about the school are in the letter." He told them before he quickly turned on his heel and walked off.

He felt the woman and her child stare after him as he walked away until he had made a turn into the nearest alleyway. He quickly apparated away from the area, and was soon back at his home. He walked into his kitchen and grabbed a bottle firewhiskey and poured himself a strong glass of it.

Walking into his living room he downed the glass quickly before sitting down and trying to work on last minute plans for his classes of the next year. Trying being the key word there, because try as he might, all his thoughts did were find their way back to Zena.

His daughter was out there, he now knew that for sure. He knew who she was even, but she didn't know him. Well, she knew him, but only as her teacher. Zena Burns was unaware of who he really was to her, and he was afraid that she might never know.

He knew that he was being irrational with that thought. Dumbledore had said that they would tell her if she didn't figure it out herself by the end of the next school year. Yet, he was afraid of how'd she react. He was afraid of whether or not she'd trust him as much as she should because he didn't tell as soon as he found out or because he hadn't been there for her after Valentine's death.

He wasn't sure what would happen, and the uncertainty of it all was what was stressing him out the most for the next year. Not the idea of keeping an eye on a certain Potter to make sure he didn't get himself killed again, not the idea of having to deal with more incompetent first years (even though that never really stressed him out), and not the fact that he wasn't finished with his lesson plans for the year.

With that thought, he looked back down to the parchment in front of him and forced himself to not let his mind wander back to the upcoming second year girl of his house that he would have to heart-wrenchingly watch grow for another year without knowing who he should've been to her for the past twelve years.

* * *

Soon I'll post a one-shot that explains more about Eliza and how she got her letter ;). Sorry it took so long you guys, i've been busy with Christmas and Finals and...today's been the first i can just sit down and update and all that jazz. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)


	4. 03

Zena took a deep breath from the top of the stairs. She was watching Harry interact with his friends, he smiled and laughed at Ron Weasley and Granger's bickering. He and Zena had talked and she had helped him with a lot of his homework during the month they both had been there, and she knew that he would go back to being pretty much a distant stranger. She watched as the rest of the Weasley boys interacted with different people and couldn't help but let the corners of her lips upturn at the twins' teasing of their older brother who was being as pompous as ever.

"Zena?" a voice familiar to her remarked. Zena was surprised to hear her, but at the same time she wasn't. Eliza Fortsby had been the outcast of her very posh and stuck-up family for reasons unknown to everyone but those who lived in their household.

Every Weasley, along with Harry and Granger looked towards Eliza and then followed her gaze up to see Zena at the top of the stairs. "How do you know her?" Granger asked disdainfully.

"She's my neighbor," Eliza remarked in her perky voice.

"Good morning Zena," Harry remarked with a small smile towards her.

"Morning Harry," She remarked simply.

"Burns," Every Weasley boy remarked in acknowledgement of her. The Weasleys didn't hate her, but they didn't love her to death either. They were mostly indifferent about her. Ginny smiled apologetically at her. Zena gave each of the red haired siblings a nod.

"How are you on such good terms with her now, Harry? Have you forgotten what she did last year?" Granger asked.

He looked at Hermione in astonishment, but it wasn't he who spoke in her defense. Instead it was Ginny Weasley, "She didn't do anything wrong Hermione. She didn't like how you insinuated that she was the Heir of Slytherin. Nor was she fond of the fact that you tried to force an apology out of her when she wasn't ready to."

A long pregnant pause spread through the area. Not until every Weasley but Ginny had left the room was something else said. "Wait," Eliza remarked holding her hands up in a stop motion, "That was her who did all that?" Eliza asked Zena.

"What do you mean I was the one who did all of that?" Granger snapped, "How do you know her?"

"She's my neighbor Granger; I think she already mentioned that." Zena deadpanned before turning to Ginny, "Thank you for defending me. I know you how you don't want something this petty to get in between you and your friendship with her, especially since you're friends with her more so than you are with me." Ginny nodded smiling sheepishly, before she ascended the stairs quickly, no longer wanting to be a part of the row that was about to go down.

"Hermione, what is your problem with her?" Harry asked astonished at his friend's behavior.

"She's friends with Draco, and she's a Slytherin, and she's rude beyond belief. I don't see how you could've accepted her apology." Granger ranted.

Harry looked at his friend, his face dark. "She didn't apologize, Hermione," he told the bushy haired girl. "I apologized to her."

"What?!" Granger shrieked.

"What's a Slytherin?" Eliza asked Zena as Harry was faced with an unnecessary, extremely biased, scolding from Granger.

Zena looked down at Eliza, "Have you gotten any of your school supplies?" Eliza shook her head. Zena nodded more so to herself in decision of something before gesturing for her to follow her out into the town of Diagon Alley.

"My mum told me not to go anywhere I didn't know my way around alone." Eliza told her nervously.

"You aren't going alone, you're going with me and I've been staying at the Leaky Cauldron for the past month. I've been spending part of my time out and about the town. We won't get lost."

"Well, I haven't any money like that of the wizarding world." Eliza remarked.

"Are you trying to avoid being seen with me?" Zena asked sounding slightly offended.

"No," the small girl protested shrilly, "It's just…I feel Hermione's the only girl with non-magical parents I've met since figuring out I was a witch, and she seems to know how to get through the discrimination against…our kind, and I don't want to lose that."

"Eliza," Zena began, "Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?" The small blonde girl shook her head. "Have I ever given you a reason to feel that I would make fun of you, tease you, or harm you in anyway?"

"No, if anything you were always there for me when my siblings picked on me." Eliza told her.

"Has Hermione ever showed to you that she'd do the same?" Zena knew that was a low and lousy thing to do, but she didn't want Eliza placing her faith and trust and giving her friendship to the wrong people.

"Not really," Eliza muttered digging her left foot into her right.

"Now, do you want to come to Diagon Alley with me to get your supplies and possibly some ice cream, or would you like to wait and go with someone else?" Zena asked her.

"Yes," Eliza remarked excitedly beginning to bounce on the balls of her feet. Zena gave her one of her half-smiles before gesturing for her to follow her out to the back of the pub/inn.

Zena felt dirty for dogging on Granger like she had. She may have not liked the girl, but she didn't want to do that. She also didn't like that fact that she had partially bribed Eliza to come to Diagon Alley with her. It made her feel pathetic, like she was desperate for Eliza to be her friend. "But I really don't have any wizarding money," Eliza told her as they headed out of the pub/inn. "There's only a brick wall here." Eliza remarked as they came to stand outside in front of the brick wall behind the Leaky Cauldron. She turned to Zena confused.

Zena reached forward with a small smirk and tapped the appropriate bricks. The brick wall split in half and slid away to reveal the wizarding city. Eliza's face brightened in amazement. "Your mother gave you muggle money, right?" Zena asked her.

"What's a muggle?" she asked.

"A non-magical person," She told Eliza, "Therefore a muggleborn is someone without magical parents but has magic themselves."

"Like me," Eliza deduced.

"Yes."

"Well then, I suppose she gave me money." Eliza reached into her pocket and pulled out the money her mother gave her.

Zena walked to Gringotts and over to the exchange counter. Zena placed the money on the counter and the goblin quickly exchanged it for the right amount of Galleons. Zena counted out the money and found that it was the exact amount for Eliza to buy her supplies and get a cone from Fortescue's.

Zena made a gesture for Eliza to follow her, "Come on,"

* * *

**A/N: I feel like i've made Zena's character a bit of a bitch. I'd like to here whether y'all agree with that or not, because i worry i'm losing readers because of it.**


	5. 04

"You didn't answer my question earlier, what's a Slytherin?"

"There are four houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. When you get to Hogwarts, you will be sorted into one of those houses."

"How do you know which one you'll be sorted into?" Eliza asked.

"You don't." Zena told her, "A battered, old, talking hat known as the Sorting Hat, does it."

"What's the difference between all of the houses?' Eliza asked.

"Gryffindor is for the brave, Ravenclaw is for the exceptionally bright, Hufflepuff is for the hard-working and loyal, and Slytherin is for the cunning and ambitious." Zena told her and then continued to talk as they made their way into Flourish and Blotts. Zena helped Eliza get her books as they continued their conversation. "I'm in Slytherin."

"What's so bad about that?" Eliza inquired.

"Nothing," Zena snapped, irritated that she was assuming there was something wrong with Slytherin just because Granger had insinuated there was. "It's just that Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley siblings are all in Gryffindor, and there's a very big house rivalry between the two."

"But all of the Weasleys and Harry don't seem to dislike you. In fact, it seems Harry likes you an awful lot, really."

Zena stared down at Eliza for a moment, wondering what the young girl meant by that comment. She soon went on with her explanation, "Harry, Hermione, and I…" she paused trying to think of the right wording for this to not make it sound like she down right despised the frumpy, Gryffindor girl that wasn't exactly fond of her, because she didn't really, she was just extremely irritated by her know-it-all personality. "Were at odds last year, because of a few incidents where we got into some pretty bad rows. Harry and I have gotten past that, Hermione seems to still be holding onto a grudge against me."

Before Eliza could comment on the information she had just received, she accidently ran into somebody. "Oof!" She exclaimed, slightly winded as she landed on her bottom on the floor.

"Watch it, first year!" the voice of Draco Malfoy snapped.

"S-sorry," Eliza stuttered out as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"Be nice to her, Draco," Zena snapped. Draco looked over towards the second year girl and smiled dashingly at her.

"What are you doing here, Zena, and who's your friend?"

"I'm helping said friend get her supplies for school, this is Eliza Fortsby."

"It's nice to meet you," Eliza held out her hand and Draco shook it.

"Why aren't her parents taking her to get her supplies?" Draco asked Zena.

"They're busy," Zena remarked, not wanting to go through the row that would undoubtedly follow after his discovery of Eliza being muggleborn.

"But Hermione said that it was because muggles couldn't even see the Leaky Cauldron, much less get in." Eliza remarked confused.

"You're associating with a _mudblood_. Zena, you know you're better than that." Draco said mudblood particularly nastier than he usually did.

"Take that back, Draco." Zena snapped.

"Why," Draco asked, "You didn't seem bothered by it before."

"You never said it in front of me before, and if you are going to blatantly call a good friend of mine one to my face than be ready to face the consequences. So I reiterate, _take it back_."

"No," Draco remarked daringly staring her down.

"Is there a problem here?" the sound of the potions professor of Hogwarts' voice asked as he stood behind the two.

"No professor," Draco remarked.

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at the platinum haired boy knowing he made a habit of lying to get what he wanted out of bad situations, before turning to Zena. "Ms. Burns?"

"He called Eliza a mudblood so I asked him to take it back but he wouldn't, and I was going to leave it at that but he started glaring me down as if daring me to ask him to do it again."

"Mr. Malfoy, I suggest not using language that would offend one of your friends in front of them. Ms. Burns, I suggest you stop getting so worked up over trivial matters such as this. You are both a part of my house, and I won't have you representing it by acting like total barbarians." He snapped at them.

"Yes professor," Draco and Zena replied begrudgingly.

"Ms. Fortsby, I suggest you watch where you're going more closely." Professor Snape told the small blonde first year and then he walked away from the three students.

"We'll continue this at school," Draco snapped at her. Zena crossed her arms across her chest, rolled her eyes, and then sneered after the platinum blonde headed boy as he walked away.

"Who was that?" Eliza asked.

"Draco Malfoy, a third year boy in my house who I was good friends with, until now. I fear my friendship with you might strain my friendship with him." Eliza looked gutted. "I've known you a lot longer than him, Eliza. Therefore, I have more loyalty to you than to him. So if it comes down to it, and it probably will, I will choose your friendship over his." Eliza smiled half-heartedly at her neighbor. "Now let's go pay for your books. We can then go to the apothecary to get your potions supplies." Eliza nodded and followed her rather dark friend to the check-out counter.

* * *

**A/N: Alright, so sorry for such a long wait you guys! Softball season's just started so I have practice after school everyday, and by the time i get back and have showered & done my homework I need to go to bed. So, I know my updating's been erratic as is, but it's probably going to be a lot more so because of this. I hope you enjoy my story, and stick with it despite how bad the updating's going to be.**

**Also, I'd like to know if you think I've got Draco and Snape in character or not. So if you could review and tell me whether you think that or not, that'd be awesome!**

**And, on that note, I must bid you adieu chickadees and chickadudes. Thank you for reading & I hope you stick with my story and review! :D**


	6. 05

"Zena!" a perky voice that could only belong to one person exclaimed happily. Eliza looked up at Zena as the girl ran towards her, chin length, blood red ringlets bouncing wildly as she did so. April Palmer attacked Zena in a hug when she got close enough.

"It's so good to see you! I hope your holiday was well."

"It's good to see you too, April. My holiday was fair. I hope yours was good as well."

"Mine was fantastic," April enthused, "My parents and I went to–"

"Forgive me if I come off as being rude, but who is she, Zena? She doesn't seem like the type of person you'd hang out with."

"Watch it, firstie!" April snapped.

"April, calm down, Eliza can be a bit…_snippy_ at times."

"Eliza, you will find out by meeting the rest of my friends that there is no set 'type' of person I hang out with." Eliza nodded irritated that she had pretty much been scolded. "Now that that's understood, Eliza, this is April Palmer, she's one of my best friends." Zena turned to April, "April, this is Eliza Fortsby, she's my next door neighbor, and a good friend of mine."

"I thought you said you lived in muggle London?" April remarked confused.

"I did." Zena told her, "And I do."

"Oh…" April remarked, "Draco is not going to be happy about that."

"We know," Eliza remarked, "We had the unfortunate problem of running into to him at the book shop."

"He and I got into a row, and Professor Snape had been in the store and had come up and scolded us."

"It was quite the scary experience, actually." Eliza commented.

"Yeah, you'll find that any encounter with Professor Snape is quite frightening in general." April remarked.

Zena rolled her eyes at them, "He's not that bad, you two."

"How can you say that? The man's terrifying!" Eliza shrieked.

April rolled her eyes, "He's terrifying to anybody not in Slytherin." Eliza's brow furrowed. "He's their head of house."

"Head of house?" Eliza asked confused.

"Each house is represented by a teacher." Zena told her.

"Yeah, for Gryffindor it's Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher. For Hufflepuff it's Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher. For Ravenclaw it's Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. And for Slytherin, it's professor Snape." April told Eliza ticking them off on her fingers.

"What about Professor Snape?" someone voiced from behind Zena.

The three girls turned to see who it was to find Nash Bennett standing there. "He scolded Zena and Draco at Flourish and Blotts when they started arguing." April prattled off easily.

Zena rolled her eyes at the red head's ease with blabbing out whatever she pleased with no thought to that it wasn't meant to be heard by everyone. That's not to say that the fact that Snape scolded her outside of school was meant to be kept secret, but she still didn't like the fact that April was okay with saying anything when it came to answering a question. "You and Draco had a row?" Nash asked, "I thought you two were good friends."

"We were," Zena remarked, "Until–"

"Until I found out she likes to hang out with filthy mudbloods such as that girl there." The pompous voice of Draco Malfoy sneered out, interrupting Zena's statement. The set of four turned around to see Draco standing there with his two large buffoons of friends/body guards, Crabbe and Goyle, flanking him on either side.

"Lay off Eliza, Malfoy," A voice that wasn't Zena or any of her best friends' called out.

"Potter?" Malfoy remarked, Zena watched Nash's eyes get slightly bigger in surprise at Potter's intervening, "You just up for defending any blood loser there is, now?" Malfoy taunted.

"I said lay off, Malfoy." Harry sneered again.

"Or what?" he taunted reaching over and tugging a strand of Eliza's hair.

"Ow!" she yelped out. Zena, surprised by Draco's childish antics, reached forward and slapped Draco's hand out of the way, hard.

"You wanna try that again, Burns?" Draco sneered out pulling his wand and pointing it in Zena's face. Zena could tell he was about to fire off a hex, but he was cut off by Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Granger all stepping over to stand with her, April, Nash, and Eliza.

People started to watch the row when this happened. Zena could understand why. Two particularly dark, closed off, second year Slytherins flanked by a second year Ravenclaw, three third year Gryffindors – one of them being Harry Potter –, and a first year all up against three third year Slytherins who had the power to make or break your name with a simple flick of their wrists towards their parents they were so ridiculously wealthy, was probably quite the spectacle. Yet, the spectacle continued to enlarge from there.

Right as Draco was about to flick his wand for the spell he wished to cast at Zena, Percy Weasley, now Head Boy, walked up pompously and asked, "What seems to be going on here?"

"Why would you want to know, _Weasley_?" Draco spat out venomously.

"Mind your attitude Malfoy," Percy snapped, "I'm Head Boy."

Zena saw Ron roll his eyes out of the corner of her eye. She kept herself from making one of her half-smiles at the younger ginger boy's antics as she watched Draco sneer and lower his wand. "Now, I better not see your wand out when not in class again, Malfoy, or you're losing house points."

"My father will hear about this!" Draco bellowed out before attempting to storm off, he was stopped again though, by a very daunting figure.

"What, exactly, will your father be hearing about, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Burns and her friends threatened me." Draco pointed his finger accusingly at the group of nine Hogwarts students that opposed him.

"Ms. Burns, is this true?" Snape asked her and everyone gaped slightly. Snape almost always seemed to choose Draco's word over someone else's.

Zena seemed unfazed by the question that was odd to everyone else, "Nash asked me why Draco and I got into a row at Florish and Blotts, and I had gotten three words of my reply out before Draco walked up and interrupted me by saying 'Until I found out she hung out with filthy mudbloods.' Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Granger walked up after that and told Draco to lay off Eliza, who he had been directing the foul words towards.

"He taunted Harry briefly to get a bit of a rise out of him before reaching over and pulling Eliza's hair. I slapped his hand away, and then he pulled his wand on me. Percy walked up after that and told him to put his wand away, and that if he saw it out in between classes in a threatening manner again, Draco would lose house points. So in a way, we threatened each other. Yet, for us, it was verbally and over materialistic matters, while his threatening of all nine of us was very much physical." Zena replied diplomatically.

"I see," Professor Snape replied dryly. "Ten points from Slytherin for disorderly inter-house conduct," The potions professor told Draco, who's mouth dropped in astonishment at the news. "And five points to each of you for attempting to restrain yourselves from physically assaulting these three," Snape told Zena and the eight friends/acquaintances/persons-she-was-at-odds-with of hers around her making a gesture towards Draco and his goons. "Ms. Burns, Mr. Malfoy, I will see you in detention the night after your first day of classes, though, for displaying complete disregard to my words."

"You told us to stop the argument outside of school and classes though!" Draco exclaimed in protest.

"Five more points from Slytherin," Snape droned out before walking off towards the professor compartment.

* * *

**A/N: So, last weekend, a guest commented on my story saying they were hoping I'd update for their birthday a week from then. So happy birthday to whoever that was! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's not much, and not very action filled, but i think i did pretty well. Comment and tell me what you think & tell me how well i did on keeping Snape & the other canon characters in character.**


	7. 06

After the incident with Draco in isle, Zena had led April and Eliza on a hunt for an empty compartment. They had found one and were now sitting in it. April was telling Zena about her trip to Massachusetts, America where she got to see where they hanged and burned "witches."

Just as Eliza started to ask her some questions about the classes and things, the train began to slowly come to a halt. "What's going on?" April voiced confused.

"Are we there?" Eliza asked, her underlying tone making obvious that she was getting excited.

"No," Zena remarked getting a bad feeling, "We couldn't have been on the train for a little over an hour."

"Then wha–" Eliza trailed off.

"What were you going to say?" Zena asked her, but didn't wait for an answer as she noticed what the girl was staring at. A thick layer of frost was slowly creeping its way over the window acting as a good mood deterrent.

A frieghtened chill ran down their spines as the girls turned away from the window at the sound of their compartment's door creaking open. Something that appeared like a Muggle's idea of a ghost adorned in shredded, filthy rags floated into their doorway, taking with it any semblance of a sort of cheeriness.

Zena felt herself wobble as her vision became clouded with that of a world she didn't recognize.

_The darkness of the room was marred by the sliver of light cast in from the barely cracked open door. Zena felt herself wiggle and noticed she was in someone's arms pressed to their chest. Softly, the sound of humming came about and then the softest of singing followed. Zena realized it was to cover up the loud bangs and crashes that were coming from outside the door. Zena felt herself close her eyes and wiggle around some more before focusing on the singing._

_ "_It started out as a feeling,  
which then grew into a hope  
which then turned into a quiet thought  
which then turned into a quiet word."

_The singing stopped for a moment as someone's voice tauntingly called out, "Come out, come out, wherever you are LeSauvage! We know you're here somewhere!" When Zena's Mother didn't answer more crashing ensued and Valentine LeSauvage continued to sing to her daughter._

"And then the word grew louder and louder  
'til it was a battle cry  
I'll come back, when you call me  
no need to say goodbye"

_ "Aww…" the same voice taunted (Zena couldn't see who it was, because herself in the memory didn't turn to look,)"Singing to your little babe, how cute. I bet that's his bastard isn't it." The person spat._

_ "Don't you _dare_ talk about my daughter that way!" Valentine exclaimed enraged as she stood up._

_ "Hahaha!" Valentine's opponent cackled, "It is, it truly is! Oh, I'm sure he'd love to hear that you're both dead in the morning." Zena didn't hear her mother do anything to oppose the woman that stood before her. Instead, she felt her mother place her in a crib and then the firing of a curse._

_ "CRUCIO!" A blood curdling scream echoed off the walls of Zena's nursery, and with them mingled the shrieks and wales of baby Zena's crying…_

X

"Zena, please stop screaming!" a worried and heartbroken voice begged in the voice you get when you're near tears. Zena was confused, _she wasn't screaming, was she?_ She listened, and sure enough, she _was_ screaming. It was a throat tearing, gut wrenching scream that would send terror down anybody's spine. She felt her fingers tangled in the hair she had tightly gripped, and she was on her knees.

She let her voice hoarsen and stopped screaming, she untangled her fingers from her hair, and looked in front of her to find Nash there his eyes slightly wet. "H- how long have I been doing that?" she asked shakily.

"Not too long," he whispered, "Only a minute or two."

"O- oh," she went to stand, and Eliza rushed to help her by taking her elbow. Nash took her other elbow and they helped her walk to her seat.

"Are you sure you're alright?" April asked worried.

"C- could you go g- get me something to drink from the t trolley?" she muttered, hating how she was so weak.

"Sure," Nash stood and took the money she was now holding out to him.

Nash came back a few moments later with a bottle of pumpkin juice and a chocolate frog. He held them both out to her and she took them gratefully. "Thank you," she muttered as she opened her chocolate frog. She easily caught it and bit off its arm. She pulled out the card to find that it was of Salazar Slytherin, and decided to keep it.

"No problem," he told her softly, and for the rest of the trip to school, the small group of friends remained silent.

X

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Headmaster Dumbledore's voice echoed through the grand room. The feeling you got walking in as a second year in comparison to the feeling you got as a first year was much more relaxed, Zena thought as she watched the First Years sit uncomfortably nervous at their new house's table. You were no longer being stared at like some freak of nature or like a bug under a microscope. So as Nash and Zena sat down they couldn't help but share a smile, or their version of a smile, in relief at the stress-less enter into the Dining Hall they had made.

"Now, I'd like to say a few words before we become too befuddled, by our excellent feast." He smiled brightly at all of them, "First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R. J. Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck professor." He gestured to the slightly unkempt man that was sitting next to her Head of House. Something she could tell Professor Snape was _not_ happy about. "Secondly, our previous Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Professor Kettleburn, had retired so he may enjoy more time with his remaining limbs." Zena heard Nash softly snort. She elbowed him in the gut.

"Ow," he hissed, glaring at her.

"Show some respect," she snapped.

"Fortunately, I am excited to announce, his place will be taken by none other than our very own Rubeus Hagrid." Many Gryffindors began to cheer excitedly. "Finally, on a more unfortunate note, by the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban, until such time as Sirius Black can be found. They will be stationed at every entrance to the ground. Now, whilst I've been assured that their presence shall not disturb our day to day activities, a word of caution: Dementors are not friendly creatures. They cannot distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way.

"Therefore, I must warn you, give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving, but you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when only one remembers to turn on the light." Zena made one of her half smiles at the saying. It was very wise, and she admired that about Dumbledore. Her thoughts on her respect for her Headmaster were cut off though by the smell of the feast that appeared in front of her.


	8. 07

It had been a month and a half since the Beginning of Term feast. Dumbledore's speech was as normal as it could have been with the old man having the odd personality that he did. He also warned them about the Azkaban guards, what were known as Dementors, and how they were sent to work around the school by the Ministry.

The Sorting Ceremony was nothing special. There were no hat stalls, no celebrities, and no Weasleys in the crowd. Yet, Eliza had been sorted into Slytherin. It had taken her sorting a few moments longer than anyone else's. It was too short of a time period for people to really notice, but Zena did. So, Zena asked Eliza about it the other day the first year replied that the hat had, for a few moments, thought about putting her in Gryffindor. It wasn't until now though, that Zena saw why the hat had thought about doing so.

Now, Zena knew that Eliza was a practical girl despite her young age. Don't get Zena wrong, Eliza enjoyed candy and goofing off as much as the next eleven year old, but unlike most kids her age she knew when there was a time for it and when there wasn't. Yet, as she heard Eliza screaming at the top of her lungs, Zena couldn't help but wonder if the girl had gone completely insane.

She had only seen Eliza do this once before, and that was about a year and a half ago when her sister wouldn't give her back her most beloved porcelain doll. She thought that it had been a onetime thing, a fluke in the girl's good judgment. Zena supposed it could be a complex the girl had. Probably something that came about from the girl's siblings and father's blatant disregard of her feelings when they pointed out that she was different from them, which, unfortunately, was most of the time.

Yet, the sheer audacity the girl had to pull something that out of control was astonishing. Don't get Zena wrong, she liked Harry and most of his companions, but this kind of audacity only came from one type of person: a Gryffindor.

Zena stood from her spot in the library after a moment and walked outside the library to see the Weasley twins holding onto aforementioned porcelain doll. By the looks on the two boys' faces, they had meant it only in a bit of fun. They had no idea what the repercussions of their actions would be. Eliza was at their feet on her stomach pounding her fists against the ground while kicking her legs and screaming at the top of her lungs. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape stood trying to think of a way to get her to stop. Professor McGonagall's face was pensive while Professor Snape's face was in his normal closed off expression.

X

Severus watched as Minerva tried to calm the first year Slytherin girl she had taken to but he couldn't stand as she flailed her limbs and screamed at the top of her lungs in a fit.

Over the screaming that echoed throughout the halls that had been cleared of students so the teachers could deal with the situation privately, Severus heard the echoing clacks of _her_ high heeled boots. He looked up and saw Zena – wait, no – Jaiden standing there, her eyebrow raised at the girl who, if Severus' few observations were correct, was his daughter's friend.

_His daughter…_ the phrase was still felt quite foreign to him.

"You know," Jaiden began, "It's very hard to study with you carrying on like that."

"Miss Burns, It'd be much appreciated if you left this to us." Minerva remarked.

"I want my doll back!" The girl exclaimed, finally telling them what was wrong.

Jaiden glanced over at the Weasley twins, who had been with the first year when she had started pitching a fit, and watched as Minerva shot them a pointed glare. One of the two red haired nuisances knelt down and extended his arm that had her porcelain doll – that had long, straight blonde hair almost identical to the first year Gryffindor's and bore a red dress with black buckle shoes over white socks that had lace on the ends – in it.

The girl looked up with a sniffle and saw the doll. She wiped away her tears with her hands and sat up. She took the doll from him as she stood and walked off once she had it. "We shall discuss this later, you two." Minerva told them pointedly, leaving no room for argument. The two nodded their faces pale, obviously scarred by the experience.

"Take the doll, you tell me Fred," George Weasley snapped at his brother. "We can get her to tell us what the deal between Harry and Burns is, you said."

"Never again," Fred Weasley remarked with a shiver as the two brothers walked away from the Library.

"Miss Burns, how is it that you knew what the problem was?" Minerva asked the dark haired girl.

Jaiden looked up at them, "She's my next door neighbor. She's very well behaved most of the time, but ever since she got that doll two years ago for her birthday she's been very attached to it. It's really rather disturbing."

"I see," Minerva remarked looking rather concerned about the information.

"Thank you, Miss Burns. Now, I suggest returning to your studies." Severus told her.

"Of course, professor," Jaiden remarked before turning and heading back to the library.

X

Zena did not continue working on the herbology essay she had been concentrating on, as suggested by her head of house. She, instead, gathered her things and walked off in the direction of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The halls were vacant except for the occasional first or second year. The school was mostly empty because most Upper Classmen had gone down to Hogsmeade, the small village not too far from the castle. Zena had assumed that the Weasley twins had stayed behind to pull together some annoying, elaborate, and troublesome prank that they and their Gryffindor friends would get a kick out of.

As she continued down the hall she found herself joined by Nash. "It's been awhile, Zena." He told her as he fell into step beside her even though he had been going in the opposite direction of her.

"I suppose it has. How are you Nash?" she asked.

"I got an E on my last potions essay." He told her with a smile.

"Really," she remarked quite happy for him, "That's great, what was it about?" The two friends didn't have potions together that year, not once on their weekly schedule. So Zena had, admittedly, worried how he had been fairing because she had been the one to help him through it.

"Why the ingredients in a hair-raising potion got you the reaction it did." He told her. She nodded in acknowledgement of his good work. He looked to see what she was looking at and saw Eliza brushing her dolls hair. "That doll is so creepy," Nash admitted.

"I know," Zena remarked in reply as she stopped in front of Professor Lupin's classroom. "I've got to go ask Professor Lupin some questions, I'll catch up with you later, yeah?" she remarked slightly hopeful that he'd agree.

"Why don't I just come with, so you don't have to waist the time of trying to find me again." He offered.

"Alright," she remarked, nervous. She wasn't nervous about hanging out with Nash, but she _was_ nervous that he'd think her strange after what she was going to ask their teacher.

* * *

**A/N: Alright my lovlies, put the sharp and heavy objects down. If you kill me, I'd no longer be able to write my stories :(. Sorry it's been so long since i've updated. I've had softball at least every other weekend and then tons of homework all week on top of that, so it's been kind of exhausting and i've sorta forgot to update sometimes.**

**Unfortunately, I won't be able to update at all this week even though it's spring break, because I'm leaving for Disney World tomorrow at noon. I'll have a day or two when i get back, but who knows what i'll do with that time :) Hope you enjoyed these two chapters though, :)**


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